The Great Dechurching

Dear friends in Christ, I just read a reflection by Nadia Bolz Weber, the founding pastor of House for All Sinners and Saints, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Denver, Colorado who has a unique approach to life and faith and Church. In her reflection Bolz Weber wonders what it would be like if we knew for sure that the Church as we know and love it would not exist in five years, no matter what we do or don’t do to try and save it.

It is no secret that Church attendance in the US is declining significantly across the board and closing in unprecedented numbers since the pandemic. Researchers claim that the Episcopal Church will not exist in twenty years1. Typical church attendance is only 85% of pre-pandemic levels, while research by the Survey Center on American Life and the University of Chicago found that in spring 2022 67% of Americans reported attending church at least once a year, compared with 75% before the pandemic.2

Bolz Weber’s ruminations were prompted by an article in the Atlantic by Jake Meador3 (which I was unable to read as it exists behind a paywall, but if you have a subscription to The Atlantic, you can find here), which suggests that Americans have adopted a way of life that leaves us lonely, isolated, anxious, and uncertain of how to live in community with other people, and that churches have become so caught up in this same world that they have nothing to offer people that cannot be found somewhere else. To quote Bolz Weber quoting the article,

Too often [the Church] has not been a community that through its preaching and living bears witness to another way to live.

As Bolz Weber herself writes,

what we see slipping away and (understandably) fear losing - real estate, budgets, executive staff, membership, colleges and camps with our denominational brand on them, influence in society - are perhaps signs of A kingdom, but maybe not necessarily signs of THE KINGDOM.

I have thought about this a lot. It supports things I already know and believe and apply to my work as the vicar of Saint Anna’s. I think there is some truth in the statement that the institutional church, the Church-with-a-capital-C which we are a part of and in which our roots are deeply embedded, does not always reflect God’s Kingdom. For one thing, the institutional Church is a human construct and as such is subject to the best and worst of what humankind can offer. But for better and worse (and often simply mediocre), it is what we have inherited and remain deeply invested in. For the moment.

And I don’t think it will survive without change. Whis is not to say that I agree with the pundits and think the Church will not exist by 2050. I just believe that the Church can’t survive and won’t exist as we know and love it today. And I say that as someone whose life and livelihood is deeply invested in the current model. But what I see at Saint Anna’s

is faithful people, who care deeply about their church, burdened by the human cost of keeping the doors open. Maintaining and ensuring the survival of the current model takes significant resources of time, talent, and treasure. What if, as Bolz Weber wonders, we stopped doing that and invested all those resources to mission and ministry? Would we find the freedom Bolz Weber imagines? The freedom that Christ promises if we follow his example.

After all, Jesus said to his followers, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:31b-32, and Paul wrote to the Galatians, For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

These are questions that your Bishop’s Committee are wrestling with. It is no secret that Saint Anna’s is struggling financially, or that volunteers are becoming burned out. The current model is heavily dependent people who have less and less time and money to offer it and so much of our ministerial energy is spent on just keeping the building maintained and the doors open.

What if we didn’t have to worry about maintaining buildings, pr paying clergy, or attending meetings? What could we do instead? If we knew that Saint Annas would not exist in five years, how would that change what we are doing now? Might that be the thing that ensures Saint Anna’s will exist in five years?

Could the “Great Dechurching” as Meador calls it be the beginning of a revival? The Genesis of a Church that exists to serve the community and not the institution. And in the meantime, how do we at Saint Anna’s live as a community that through its preaching and living bears witness to another way to live?

Yours in Christ,

Rv. Jane+